The Riveras Insert 12 - A New Friend
by J-R Virtual Seasons
Summary: September 2013: Kylie, Eduardo, Conchita and Rose welcome a new addition to the family.


Eduardo arrived home to the familiar sound of Disney-Pixar's _Brave_ playing in the living room. When he stopped to look in, he saw that Conchita and James were sitting at one end of the sofa with their heads leaning into each other, while Rose was scrunched up at the other end with a large toy cat crushed against her chest. Eduardo smiled indulgently at the scene, then walked on to the end of the hall and into the kitchen, where Kylie was making dinner with the help of an open recipe book.

'Hi, sweetie,' she said, and gave him a kiss. 'I'm making Mexican bean stew tonight, and I can't _imagine _what you're going to make tomorrow.'

'Really?' said Eduardo. 'I seem to remember that you had some enthusiasm for vegetarian food several years ago.'

'I was right about the environmental benefits,' said Kylie, 'but I still say cutting out meat three times a week is enough for that. I don't think I could be a full-time vegetarian.'

'What about having an option for meat-eaters?' said Eduardo. 'I don't think Chita expects anybody else to change their eating habits.'

'Yeah, I guess you're right. I think there's some chorizo I could add to everybody's food but hers.'

'Cool. I'll make some dip to temper it for Jim.'

'Thanks, babe,' said Kylie. 'Make enough for me to have some, and Rose if she wants it.'

'All right,' said Eduardo, 'but I bet you'll end up eating hers. Rosy can eat chorizo neat when she feels like it.'

'So can Chita. Do you think she'll miss it?'

'Maybe at first, but she'll stick to her principles.'

'Of course she will,' said Kylie. 'I know everybody says this, but _I'm_ right: we have exceptional kids. When I Skyped Roland the other day, he was telling me that _his_ kids can't even sit through a movie like our girls and Jim are doing right now.'

'His kids are younger,' said Eduardo.

'Not all of them. Adam's a little older than Rose, and Roland said that when _he_ sits down to watch a movie, he gets bored within ten minutes and starts playing a video game or something.'

'I'm not surprised; that kid's growing up in a house that's practically run by digital technology. He sees Roland caressing touchscreens every five minutes, so he thinks that's what you're supposed to do. Y'know, the funny thing is when _we_ were kids, sitting in front of the TV for more than about thirty minutes was considered a _bad_ thing.'

'That's because our elders didn't understand,' said Kylie. 'Engaging with a ninety-minute movie is obviously a sign of intelligence.'

Just as she said this Rose sloped into the room, dragging her toy cat along the ground, while _Brave_ continued to play in the living room.

'Hello, sweetheart,' said Kylie. 'You okay?'

Rose made a non-committal noise as she clambered onto a dining chair, leaving her cat in a heap on the floor. She then folded her arms on the table and slumped forward onto them.

'Not bored of _Brave_ yet, are you, _florita_?' said Eduardo.

'It's not as good when James is here,' said Rose.

'Oh,' said Eduardo, exchanging a look with Kylie.

Some of Rose's hair fell over her eyes. She brushed it aside, then put a chunk of it into her mouth and sucked pensively.

'Baby, _please_ don't chew your hair,' said Kylie. 'You'll swallow it, and then we'll have to take you to the hospital to have your tummy cut open.'

'I don't care,' said Rose.

'_I_ do,' said Kylie, removing the hair herself and tucking it behind Rose's ear. 'Rosy, is something bothering you?'

For a moment, Rose only looked sulky and stared at the tablecloth. Then suddenly she burst into tears and said, 'I'll just die if I don't get a kitty!'

'Oh, sweetheart, that's nothing to cry about,' said Kylie, hastily grabbing a clean dishcloth with which to mop up her small daughter. 'You should have told us before. Maybe it _is_ time we got a new cat.'

'Nobody else wants one,' sniffled Rose.

'Who says?' said Eduardo, who had taken over the cooking of the bean stew.

'Conchita,' Rose said sulkily.

'You've talked to your sister about this?' said Kylie.

'Yes.'

'What exactly did she say?'

'She said we can't just replace Pagan because it would be like if _I_ died and you just had a new baby to replace _me_,' said Rose. 'But _I'd_ have to be sick or in a car crash or something, not die of old age like Pagan did, and I can't even hardly _remember_ him!' and she burst into tears again.

'Oh, sweetie, don't say things like that,' said Kylie, handing control of the dishcloth over to Rose and stroking her hair soothingly. She turned to Eduardo. 'That doesn't sound like Chita.'

'She probably put it more tactfully than that,' said Eduardo.

'She didn't!' wailed Rose.

'Let's all talk about it over dinner, shall we?' said Eduardo. 'The movie must be almost finished by now; when I came in, it sounded like Merida was about to save her mom from the bear hunt.'

'I'll go check,' said Kylie, and left the room. A few moments later, she came back and said, 'Almost there – she just turned back into a person.'

* * *

Very soon, they were all sitting around the dining table. Rose had stopped crying and was glaring mutinously at her chorizo-strewn bean stew, with Conchita looking at her somewhat guiltily. James was tucking into the meal with vigour, apparently noticing no disequilibrium.

'I hear you girls have been discussing the possibility of a new cat,' Kylie said casually.

James looked up, interested.

'Rose might've mentioned it,' Conchita said evasively.

'I _did_ mention it!' said Rose. '_You _said we couldn't have one!'

'I said I wasn't sure it was a good idea,' said Conchita.

'I think we've all been missing Pagan, sweetie,' Kylie said to her. 'A new cat wouldn't replace him exactly; it would be a nice new friend for all of us.'

'It just seems a little soon,' said Conchita.

'_Qué mierda!_' said Rose.

'Rose!' said Eduardo. 'You didn't hear that from me, did you?'

'Yes,' said Rose, 'and _another_ thing I've heard you say is, our family is supposed to be demi-cratic. That means if I want a cat and Mommy wants a cat and you want a cat, we have to have a cat!'

'She's right, y'know,' James said helpfully. 'That's _exactly_ what democratic means.'

'Daddy hasn't _actually_ said whether he wants a cat or not,' said Conchita, and she turned enormous eyes onto her father. '_Have _you, Daddy?'

'Of _course_ he wants a cat!' said Rose, and her entire demeanour suddenly softened as she, too, gazed imploringly at Eduardo. '_Don't_ you, Daddy?'

'Um,' said Eduardo, turning his own eyes onto Kylie, who shrugged helplessly.

There was a long silence. Then James said sheepishly, 'I thought you guys already had a cat.'

This was evidently too much for Conchita. She threw down her cutlery, slid off her chair and stalked from the room.

'He's dead, Jim,' said Kylie, rather stiffly.

'Insensitive!' Rose declared, pointing her fork viciously at James across the table.

'I know _Pagan's_ dead,' said James, looking dismayed. 'I didn't mean _him_. I remember when he died; I was sad too. I just kind of assumed you'd have another cat by now.'

'Why?' said Kylie. 'We'd have told you if we got another cat, Jim. You'd have seen it.'

'Didn't you wonder why it never appeared, man?' said Eduardo, clearly amused.

'I just figured it must be shy,' said James. 'I'm sorry. It's just... it didn't feel right for so long after Pagan died. This house _needs_ a cat. I didn't think you'd have gone on so long without one.'

Rose had now lowered her fork and was beaming at her cousin across the table.

'I'm sorry,' said James. 'I'd better go straighten things out with Chita.'

He went out into the hallway and found Conchita sitting halfway up the stairs with tear-filled eyes.

'I liked Pagan, y'know,' James said, as he sat down next to her. 'I think about him every day. I just thought you'd –'

'I heard,' said Conchita. 'How could you think we'd just replace him?'

'It isn't like that,' said James. 'When Henry died and then Gordon died, I felt like you do now: I never thought I'd want mice ever again. But then I realised I _did_ want more mice, and if I had them it wouldn't change what I'd had with Henry and Gordon. They'd lived a full and happy life with me, and they were ready to move on, and I knew it was okay for me to move on too. Then when Kev took me to the pet store and I chose Buffy and Dawn, we formed a completely different but equally special bond.'

'Really?' Conchita said doubtfully.

'Of course really.'

'But aren't you...?'

'Aren't I what?'

'Aren't you afraid of how you'll feel when Buffy and Dawn die too?'

'Yeah, kinda,' said James. 'But that's life, isn't it? There's no point not being happy because another day you'll be sad.'

'When Pagan died,' said Conchita, 'a little piece of _me_ died.'

'I think a little piece of _all_ of you died,' said James, 'especially your mom. But if you get a _new_ cat, a new and completely different piece of you all will be born. And y'know, if it's a kitten or a very _young_ cat, it won't die until we're all old – like, in our twenties.'

'Well,' said Conchita, 'I _have_ sometimes lain awake at night missing the weight of a cat on my legs.'

'You have to have animals in your life, Chita,' said James. 'You're, like, the Wise Woman of the Forest or something.'

Conchita giggled and said, 'You _do_ talk some bull, Jim.'

When they reappeared in the kitchen a minute later and resumed their seats, Conchita said, 'I want a new cat. Jim made me realise.'

Suddenly Rose leapt up, dived across the table at James, flung her arms around him and cried, 'Oh, _thank_ you Jim-Jimmy-Jim-Jim!'

'No problem,' said James, patting her awkwardly on the back as Kylie straightened out the upset cutlery and dishes, smiling to herself.

* * *

A few days later Kylie, Conchita and Rose took up Pagan's carrier once again and drove to a cat charity foster home. A smiling woman in her thirties was there to greet them; they all had to crowd into a very small hallway with Kylie holding the large cat carrier, and once the front door was closed, their hostess opened another door to let them into the main body of the house. As she did so a small, bat-eared and rather moth-eaten tortoiseshell kitten streaked over her head and onto Kylie's shoulder. Kylie put her hands up to the tortie to prevent her from going any further, then began to stroke her and make soothing noises, whereupon the kitten calmed down and peered inquisitively over the supporting shoulder at Conchita and Rose, who both smiled hugely up at her.

The room they walked into was peppered with cats in various colours, sizes and stages of wakefulness, about ten of them overall.

'Please sit down,' the cat lady said to her visitors, so Kylie and Conchita sat while Rose went off to peer into the cats' faces and see if they wanted to make friends.

Kylie set the tortoiseshell kitten onto the floor and she went slinking off, looking warily around her at the other cats, even the smallest of which were bigger than she was. One, a black kitten almost twice her size, trotted inquisitively over to her; at once the tortie's hackles rose and she let out an almost inaudible hiss, showing a tiny set of sharp, white teeth. The larger kitten was clearly not frightened by this, but he understood the message and went trotting off in another direction.

'A lot of people are put off by him because they don't want black cats,' the cat lady said, picking up the black kitten as he passed her. He allowed her to stroke him with an air of indifference.

'Those people are stupid,' Rose announced from the other side of the room, where she was tickling the chin of a tabby with a messy eye condition.

'You're right, Rosy,' said Kylie. Then she turned to her hostess. 'Anyone who wants a cat shouldn't care about things like that.'

'I agree with you,' said the cat lady. 'It's left over from that old superstition, I suppose. Have you had a cat before? You seemed very comfortable with our little tortie.'

'I had a cat for sixteen years,' said Kylie, 'and these two knew him from the cradle. He died a couple of years ago, and now we're ready for another.'

'Is the tortie okay?' asked Conchita, who had twisted round to look over the back of the sofa at the kitten. 'She doesn't seem very happy.'

'She doesn't like the other cats,' said the cat lady. 'Hates them, in fact. She comes into my room at night and cuddles up to me to sleep, and she yowls if any of the others try to come in.'

The little tortoiseshell stared back at Conchita, then began to look crafty. She walked round to the side of the sofa, jumped up and got onto Kylie's lap, where she curled herself up into a perfect little circle and purred. Kylie at once began to stroke her.

'She's very affectionate, as you can see,' the cat lady went on. 'She's here because the child in the family who had her turned out to be allergic.'

'Oh, poor kid!' said Conchita, her face registering the sheer horror of it.

'Sounds like a wimp to me,' said Rose, who was now stroking the exposed tummy of an obsequious calico.

'No one can help being allergic, Rose,' said Kylie, just as the kitten on her lap opened one crafty yellow eye and looked up at her. Kylie saw this, and gave the kitten an indulgent smile. The kitten stood up, stretched herself and gave a little trill, then stepped over onto Conchita's lap and once again curled herself up to look like a little copper coin.

* * *

Eduardo was in the utility room, emptying a large bag of cat litter into Pagan's old litter tray, when the front door burst open and Conchita and Rose struggled in, carrying the cat carrier between them and beaming all over their faces. Kylie came in several seconds behind them, labouring under the weight of a carrier bag and a large cat tree with quite a few branches. When Eduardo arrived in the hallway, he stepped forward to take the cat tree from her, looking rather amused.

'You chose one with a lot of stuff, huh?' he said.

'She chose _us_,' said Kylie. 'That's the bad news, sweetie: you now live with four women.'

'Not bad news at all,' said Eduardo, putting the cat tree down just inside the living room doorway. 'So what's in the bag?'

'More cat toys than you can imagine,' said Kylie.

'Shut the door so we can let her out!' Rose called impatiently from the living room. 'Jesus!'

Kylie shut the front door, then Conchita and Rose between them opened the cat carrier and out jumped the little tortoiseshell kitten. She had a good look at her surroundings, accepted a lot of petting from Conchita and Rose at the same time, then sat down in the middle of the floor and began to wash herself.

'Do you like her, Daddy?' said Conchita.

'Her name's Merida,' Rose added.

'Of course I like her,' said Eduardo. Then he turned to Kylie and said quietly, 'Even though she kinda looks like she was rescued from a dumpster.'

'She wasn't, though,' said Kylie. 'I thought maybe she'd had some kind of trauma, especially when she was aggressive to the other cats, but it turns out she's been perfectly well taken care of. I expect she'll grow into herself soon and stop looking weird.'

Rose walked over to her mother, took the bag of cat toys from her hand and tipped it out all over the floor. Merida at once stopped washing herself and looked alert. Rose selected a little plastic ball with a bell in it and rolled it across the room; Merida tore after it like a thing possessed. Everyone laughed as the kitten chased her ball underneath a bookcase; then she actually managed to squeeze her entire upper body into the small space underneath to get the ball out again. She batted it so hard that it went shooting across the room and came to a stop against Eduardo's right foot. Merida trotted over to him and looked up expectantly with huge, yellow eyes. When nothing happened, she let out an endearing little mew.

'She wants you to make the ball move, Daddy,' giggled Rose.

'She sure is cute,' said Eduardo, stooping down to scratch Merida's head. She let him do this for a few seconds, then promptly lay down and rolled over onto her back.

'Aww!' everyone crooned.

Eduardo stroked Merida's tummy and let her nibble his hand for a while. Then he flicked the little plastic ball across the room, and once again Merida tore after it. This time she crashed into the wall, looked momentarily dazed and then went on playing as if there had been no interruption.

As Kylie watched her two daughters playing with their new kitten, all three of them clearly in paroxysms of delight, her eyes began to fill with tears. Eduardo put his arm around her and said, 'You can be shockingly sentimental, _querida_.'

'You can't tell me you're not crying with joy on the inside,' said Kylie. 'I mean, _look_ at them!'

'Don't worry, I'm melting away into slush,' said Eduardo, and kissed the top of Kylie's head. Then he addressed the group. 'You know what? I think we should show Merida her litter box before she makes any puddles.'

Conchita nodded and picked Merida up, then they all traipsed through to the utility room, where the little cat was deposited on the floor beside her litter tray. She sniffed cautiously at it, then suddenly jumped into the litter and sent quite a bit of it flying. She squatted in the middle of the tray and did something discreet, then scrabbled about so much in the litter that she sent yet more of it spraying all over the room. Finally, she jumped out of the tray and walked off with her tail in the air, looking extremely pleased with life and leaving the family with her mess.

'I think tomorrow,' said Kylie, 'I'll go to the pet store and get her one of those enclosed litter boxes.'


End file.
